Reusable forming devices

ABSTRACT

A connector for use in joining form boards in a variety of configurations to form up a slab or footing without having to size the form boards and having an upstanding panel terminating in a flange in which apertures are formed to receive fasteners which penetrate and secure the form boards in the desired spacing and relative position while nested in the connector during pouring of the concrete structure being formed; the connector further having the capability of being notched and creased to permit specific angular relationships being achieved.

[0001] The present invention relates generally to the art of constructing forms for the shaping of concrete structures such as footings and slabs and is more particularly directed to improvements in reusable connector devices for facilitating the task of construction of such forms in precise dimension with maximum speed and at minimum expense.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The construction of concrete structures at the site of a building, for example, is labor intensive and often requires the destruction of materials used to create forms which define the dimension of the concrete to be poured.

[0004] While some large concrete structures may be efficiently formed of pre cast panels, particularly in the residential construction business, footings and pads are formed at the site, primarily of wooden boards which are staked into position and, when no longer needed, often simply torn away from the cured concrete.

[0005] In a typical residential application, a quantity of 2×8s or 2×10s are delivered to the site in a variety of lengths, and then are cut to the proper length by artisans on site. Once the board is cut, it is reusable only where a board of its particular length, or shorter, is needed. Thus a 16′ board may end up as a 10′ board or less. Moreover, once a piece of lumber has been used as a form, it is useful for little else, in that the concrete, when wet, tends to coat the board with concrete residue, which will be absorbed into the wood in varying degrees depending on the porosity of the wood at the time that it comes into contact with wet cement.

[0006] In any event, the concrete residue drys in the pores of the wood, rendering it useful for little else. Thus, forming boards are transported from site to site, decreasing in size as they are cut to size and eventually become useless for any purpose and are disposed of. As the costs of construction escalate, contractors are constantly seeking ways to minimize waste and, of course, labor.

[0007] There has been considerable thought given to development of ways to reduce waste and, thus, cost, in construction and, in particular, residential construction. Often the artisans that do the forming are subcontractors who must bid on a job to qualify and if a job must take into account the waste in forming boards, and the labor to cut them to size, then such bids will not be competitive with those who are able to minimize such waste in time and material. The present invention offers a solution.

[0008] 2. Overview of the Prior Art

[0009] There have been, throughout the years, several efforts to reduce the intensity of the labor typically required to form up a footing, or sidewalk, or the like. Perhaps the most common approach is to employ an all metal, reusable form.

[0010] There are several drawbacks to the use of all metal forms, however, among them, storage, transportation and cleaning. It would appear further, that a contractor employing such devices would have to maintain a large inventory in order to be sure that each job to be undertaken can be efficiently performed.

[0011] Additionally, there is the sheer cost of fabrication and material. In a highly competitive market such as exists in the custom construction industry, cost is, of course, a paramount concern, and devices, therefore, such as that disclosed in Von Drasek Patent No. 3,136,023, Simpson Patent No. 3,288,426, and Nielsen Patent No. 991,635, become relatively impractical. Such structures may be suitable for use by a contractor for commercial applications, but for the smaller cement contractor, such devices are impractical.

[0012] Jones Patent No. 5,154,837 discloses a flexible form using wood forms and a metal backing to hold the forms in place and bears some similarity to the Simpson disclosure. There are several patented efforts to provide flexibility in the angle between adjoining forms, and these are represented by the patents to Schmaltz No. 3,825,220, Boeshart No. 5,039,058, and McAbee et al. No. 5,562,272.

[0013] In Schmaltz, hinged joints receive the ends of the form boards, while in Boeshart and McAbee et al. the angle of the joint appears fixed. The use of a fixed angle joint is, perhaps, less versatile, for obvious reasons, than the hinged joint of Schmaltz, but these patents represent on approach to addressing the problems sought to be resolved by the present invention.

[0014] There are several other patents in the forming field, relating to forming walls in particular, which do not have applicability in the area of the present invention, and a detailed acknowledgment of such patents would not be productive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0015] The focus of the present invention rests in the forming of concrete structures such as footings, side walks and cement slabs, generally. It has, as a principal objective, the simplification of such tasks as a means of reducing costs of both labor and material. A related objective is to effect a time saving resulting from the quantum leap in the relative ease with which the forming task can be accomplished in accordance with the teachings of the invention.

[0016] It is, of course, an objective to materially reduce the cost of materials normally experienced in a forming job, by minimizing the individual sizing of form boards to fit a particular length required at a particular position. More specifically, it is common practice to cut a board to a particular length to conform to the distance along a given edge. If the board is too short, it is unusable, and if too long, it is cut to size, and, afterwards, is usable only for that size. The waste in lumber is significant, and at some point, form boards become unusable because they are all too short.

[0017] It is a further objective of the present invention to provide to the cement contractor, a minimal number of reusable joint and connectors which are simple and inexpensive in construction, easy to manipulate in use, extremely easy to transport and store, and durable to a fault, all of which translates into both time and money savings while accomplishing the previously articulated objectives and others which will become evident to one skilled in the art when the following detailed description is read in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:

IN THE DRAWINGS

[0018]FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a connector fabricated in accordance with the present invention;

[0019]FIG. 2 is a pictorial view, in perspective, of the connector of FIG. 1, illustrating one use of the connector in joining a pair of form boards in a right angle configuration;

[0020]FIG. 3 is a view similar to that of FIG. 2, illustrating the manner in which the connector of FIG. 1 may be used to join a pair of form boards at an oblique angle relative to one another;

[0021]FIG. 4 illustrates the connector of FIG. 1, which is notched and creased in order to permit the connector to serve as a joint which can secure a pair of form boards at any desired angle;

[0022]FIG. 5 illustrates the manner in which the configuration of FIG. 3 is employed on the job to join a pair of form boards;

[0023]FIG. 6 is illustrative of a device similar to that of FIG. 1, except that additional versatility is provided by use of a hinge;

[0024]FIG. 7 illustrates the versatility of the connector of the present invention in that it may be used on either the inside or outside of the form structure;

[0025]FIG. 8 is a view similar to that of FIG. 4, but illustrating that view with respect to the embodiment which employs the hinge of FIG. 6;

[0026]FIG. 9 is a pictorial representation of the use of several connectors, constructed in accordance with the present invention, in concert to create a form having a non standard profile.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0027] With reference now to the drawings, and initially to FIG. 1, there illustrated, in side elevation, is a connector 20. In its simplest form, and in accordance with the invention, the connector 20 comprises a single vertical panel, or side wall, 22 of such dimension as reasonably accommodates the tasks to be accomplished.

[0028] The connector is intended to secure adjacent form boards B in a relatively rigid, determinable, relationship to accomplish the forming of a cement structure, such as a footing or slab of some ordered configuration in conjunction with form boards. In keeping with this aspect of the invention, a flange 25 is formed, such as by bending on a brake, or by some other suitable means, along the top edge 27 of the panel 25.

[0029] In order that the form boards B may be releaseably secured in the connector 20, apertures 30 are formed in the flange 25. A minimum of two apertures is formed in the flange 25, inboard of the terminal ends 32 thereof, by a predetermined distance. In furtherance of the purposes of the invention, the flange terminal ends 32 of the flange 25 define ears which extend beyond the upstanding end walls 35. The apertures 30 are intended to permit the repeated use of a fastener, such as a nail N, to secure the form board B to the connector 20 during use and permitting withdrawal thereof when the task is complete by simply withdrawing the fastener 32.

[0030] It will be appreciated, particularly in reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, that not only is the connector 20 exceptionally simple in structure and use, it is very versatile. Thus, as seen in FIG. 2, a pair of adjacent form boards may be nested in the connector in abutting relation with the panel 22 and flange 25, where they are joined by the connector 20, at a right angle and at an adjusted length. It will be observed that one of the boards, B, is not affixed to the connector at or near its terminal end, but rather at some intermediate point leaving a stub end 38 extending outwardly from the connector. In this fashion, the form board need not be cut to size and will survive to be used again, at its full length, if necessary.

[0031] The adjacent form board, as seen if FIG. 2, need not, and as illustrated does not, abut its mate in the connector. Rather, it is some predetermined distance therefrom, and in such a manner, a shorter board than what might otherwise be needed in a more conventional forming job is readily useable, at significant saving to the contractor. Suitable fasteners N are used to secure the position of each form board B, once they are appropriately placed in the connector 20.

[0032] With special reference now to FIGS. 4 and 5, it is within the contemplation of the invention that at some point along the length of the connector 20, the flange may be cut and beveled to form a notch 40, defined by beveled edges 42 and 43, which diverge from a demarcation point 45 on the top edge 27 of the panel 22. The side panel is then creased at 48, or alternatively hinged, as may be seen at 49 in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, along a line which is transverse to the top edge 27 beginning at the point 45. In this manner, the vertical panel of the connector is divided by the crease 48 into side walls 50 and 51, which are capable of being bent inwardly toward one another, in the direction of the arrow A to virtually any appropriate acute angle as required by the design of the concrete structure. It will also be apparent that the walls can be bent away from one another as the circumstances dictate.

[0033] With reference now to FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, an alternative to creasing of the connecter is suggested, wherein the connector comprises a pair of panels joined by a hinge. Specifically, a hinge 49 is provided which permits adjustment of the angle between sidewalls 50 and 51, without flexing or work hardening of the metal. Accordingly, the life of the connector is materially increased.

[0034] It is a further feature of the present invention that the connector may be fitted to the inside or the outside of the form without consequence or loss of versatility. This feature will be readily understood in a comparison of the FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 embodiments, where the flange is formed inwardly or outwardly at the instance of the user and is equally functional in either position.

[0035] Still further in accordance with the present invention, and with particular reference to FIG. 9, various configurations of the connector 20 of the present invention are usable, in combination, to achieve a myriad numbers of bends and turns as a particular concrete job may require. It will be appreciated that connectors 20 having a particular vertical panel are there combined in use with connectors in which a crease 48, or hinge 49, is formed to provide an angular disposition, in forming up an irregularly shaped form, all in keeping with the invention. 

Having thus illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the present invention, what is claimed is:
 1. A connector for use joining form boards usable in conjunction with the connector in forming up a concrete structure such as a footing or slab in a predetermined configuration, comprising; an upstanding panel, said panel having a top edge; a flange, said flange formed integrally with said top edge and extending outwardly therefrom at an angle relative to the plane of said upstanding panel; apertures in said flange, said apertures adapted to receive a fastener, wherein adjacent form boards are nested against said upstanding panel and said flange, and fastened thereto to provide a secure connection.
 2. The connector of claim 1, wherein the flange terminates in ears, said ears extending beyond the end walls of said upstanding panel.
 3. The connector of claim 2, wherein said apertures are located in said ears.
 4. The connector of claim 1, wherein the width of said flanges is less than the width of the form boards.
 5. The connector of claim 1, wherein flanges form a 90° angle with said upstanding panel to which it is formed.
 6. A connector for use joining form boards usable in conjunction with the connector in forming up a concrete structure such as a footing or slab in a predetermined configuration, comprising; an upstanding panel, said panel having a top edge; a flange, said flange formed integrally with said top edge and extending outwardly therefrom at an angle relative to the plane of said upstanding panel; said flange being notched so as to form a pair of diverging edges, said edges extending outwardly from a point on said upper edge of said upstanding panel, and said upstanding panel being creased, said crease being transverse to said upper edge of said upstanding panel; said connector being foldable along said crease to define an angle between upstanding wall portions of said panel divided by said crease; apertures in said flange, said apertures adapted to receive a fastener, wherein adjacent form boards are nested against said upstanding panel and said flange, and fastened thereto to provide a secure connection.
 7. The connector of claim 6, wherein the flange terminates in ears, said ears extending beyond the end walls of said upstanding panel.
 8. The connector of claim 6, wherein the flange terminates in ears, said ears extending beyond the end walls of said upstanding panel and said apertures are located in said ears.
 9. The connector of claim 6, wherein the width of said flanges is less than the width of the form boards.
 10. A connector for use in joining form boards usable in conjunction with the connector in forming up a concrete structure such as a footing or slab in a predetermined configuration, comprising; a pair of upstanding side walls together defining a panel, each said side wall having a top edge; a flange formed integrally with said top edge and extending outwardly there from at an angle relative to the plane of said upstanding panels, said flanges being notched so as to form a pair of diverging edges, said diverging edges extending outwardly from a point on said upper edge of each said upstanding side wall; said upstanding side walls being contiguous, one of said upstanding side walls being movable relative to one another to define an angle between them; apertures in said flanges, said aperture adapted to receive a fastener, wherein adjacent form boards are nested against said upstanding panel and said flange, and fastened thereto to provide a secure connection.
 11. The connector of claim 10, wherein flanges forming a 90° angle with said upstanding panels to which it is formed.
 12. The connector of claim 10, wherein the flange terminates in ears, said ears, said ears extending beyond the end walls of said upstanding panel.
 13. The connector of claim 10, wherein said apertures are located in said ears.
 14. The connector of claim 10, wherein the width of said flanges is less than the width of the form boards. 